The Beauty of War
by hayden14
Summary: The whole ordeal with Itachi never happened & the peace that Konoha and Suna shared has been severed. Now they are caught up in a massive war and Sasuke and Sakura have been excluded from the group, but an enemy nin.told Sakura that messed up everthing.


"Death smiles at all men and all men can do is smile back"

-Gladiator

I turned my head to see five shurriken gracefully slicing through the air at me in blurs of slivers. My right leg was immobile due to 7 senbon needles that penetrated my leg tissues a few seconds ago from a ricochet and my lasp of judgment. I channeled chakra to my hands and punched the ground with my entire mite, making the ground quiver and rise around where my fist made contact, thus bringing forth a slab of rock that shielded me.

I had avoided this assault, but I knew there were many to come.

After all this was a war.

The attacker came at me with blazing speed. An unsheathed sword jabbed in my direction.

This problem could be solved easily. It was obvious that this enemy ninja was all brute force by the way he pushed all the power into his legs to close the gap between us, so if he were to lose one that would be fatal. I could tell it was a man. He was probably going to go for my heart thinking that is was a safe and full proof plan to take out another opponent, especially one that looks like a lost little girl, but that wasn't the case.

All giants have a weak spot and I just found his. He was slightly favoring his left leg. Bull's eye.

I grabbed a star out of my leg holder and aimed carefully. I counted the remaining seconds I had left before he was to meet me. Bingo!

"GAAAAAHH!" he screamed as I hit the mark and he tumbled to the ground at my feet. He was dead for I know I ruptured a few nerves and an artery. I should have felt victorious but that was one of thousands that coexisted in this war. He was the first of many sand villagers to die by the hands of a leaf ninja.

I grazed the pink hair away from my sweat drenched forehead so I could see what I was working with.

I used my nimble fingers to take the needles out of my flesh. It was more painful than I would have expected, for I soon realized that the needles had slanted barbs on them so it was easier to pierce through but when you tried to take it out it would rip the wound bigger. How shameful of them to use such weapons, but I should have expected as much from those barbaric monsters, then it got even worse. I was greeted by the pungent smell of conuri. This plant was used as a paralyzing poison, if you get enough into your system it will stop your heart, thus sending you into cardiac arrest and most likely killing you within 7 minutes.

I had to work fast. I focused my chakra into my legs and watched as the punctures closed up. I averted my chakra over the pale skin on the top of my leg right above the knee and used the remaining chakra I had left and focused on the alien substance. I found it and pulled. I watched as the liquid was being sucked from my pores into an orb in the palm of my hand.

I breathed a quick chuckle as I held the greenish, red liquid in my hand encased in a thin barrier of chakra.

I sensed an essence behind me. Enemy.

I grasped the needles that I had clasped in my hand and blindly threw them at the attacker. Hoping they wouldn't miss.

They didn't, when I got back to my feet I saw that I was lucky enough to hit the man in a vital spot, making him tumble to the ground and instantly die.

My leg buckled under me and I fell to the awaiting ground. That was about the worst thing that could have happened to me. Not only did I not get all the poison out, as I thought before, but I was now a cow waiting to be slaughtered. It was like my leg didn't even exist, I had waited too long and I lost the feeling on my whole right side and it felt like it was dead weight to me. I tried to inch my way next to a tree hopping to lean against it or find a low branch to lift myself up so I may have a fighting chance.

It was too late to do anything about it, for there was a sand ninja that had swooped down from an adjacent tree, coming at me full force with 2 curved hand blades. The murderous aura surrounding him.

Something was terribly wrong when the ninja stopped right in front of me and examined me through his eyes slits of his mask. This was scaring me more than him coming at me with every intention of murder.

I was breathing hard and from the loss of chakra and the tree bark was cutting into the threading of my shirt. He examined the area, and then took a hesitant step towards me. He then retracted his weapons into his back pockets.

That's when I had a very strong idea of what was going on in his mind.

He was going to toy with me. I could see the idea in his confident and menacing body language. That also meant there was nobody around. No one was coming.

He was going to do something to me against my will. Whether the outcome will be rape or torture I don't have a clue.

I have heard of such practices from a patient at the hospital where, in the village of sand, a ninja of the village will break your bones and leave you crying and begging for your life until they ultimately killed you in the most brutal way possible. It was like a cheap thrill for them that they thrived on. There were very few, and most of them were clever and would slip right threw the laws fingers. If the law even cared. Suna was such a slum, rat hole that that they probably didn't. I never thought that I would ever encounter one out of the thousands of ninja here, but of course this was just how my luck ran.

He creeped his was closer to me. Right when he got close enough I sent my leg thrusting at him trying to get a good kick in. I was not about to go down without a fight.

Without even another thought he raised his leg in the air for a moment and sent it crashing down on my shin, breaking it. I bit my tongue so hard I thought I was going to chomp it off, it was my good leg. But I was not about to scream for the enemy. I wasn't going to let this sick asshole taste my helpless position and savor it.

For my disobedience of silence I was rewarded with a swift kick to the face that sent my head snapping back, hitting the hideous ground. That's when I released everything. My blood flowed like a river out of my nose and mouth, but I kept my tears strongly held in place though. I will not cry for the enemy, even though it felt like he knocked my jaw off.

I wasn't even scared anymore. I was too filled up with rage for this man. This disgusting human that's only purpose in life is to feed off of others pain.

I felt a tug on my shirt. He had lifted me up and loomed his body over mine. His sweat smelling face mere inches from mine. "What makes you think you can be so proud that you won't even cry! You Konohas' are all the same arrogant fuck faces!" I stopped my violent coughing and glared at the man. "You know nothing . . ." I had to stop as I felt a glob of metallic substance climb up my throat and overflow out of my mouth. That unfortunate jester of mine made him breath out of chuckle. "Of my people," I finished. "You are the one . . . to start . . . the war, you disgusting creature." I was surprised at myself that I could even force out those words, but I guess the words of passion always came freely.

The ninja's hand let me go after a forceful shake and jab to the chest and my torso felt back to the ground. I thought my chest was being invaded by an inextinguishable fire. "You honestly think we started the war?!" The ninja's tone changed as his face inched its way closer to mine. "Let me tell you a secret before you die." His breath escaped through the porous cover of his mask and was pungent with tobacco and decay. If it wasn't for those Uchihas' of yours, you would live to see another day." I glared at him with as much hate and malice as I could. He leaned in closer to me, so close that his mouth was at my ear, muffled by his mask. "But that is the beauty of war; it brings out peoples true colors."

Uchihas'. What does this man have against the Uchihas', is he talking about Sasuke?

Right when he said that I felt him forcefully grab my breast and grope it. Not getting a firm grip on it cause of my wraps he grabbed the colar of my shirt and yanked it past my breasts, ripping the buttons open. I felt his cold, grainy hands ripping the wrap that concealed me from the outside world. It was like I was in a trance that I could not escape from. A frozen astonishment that left me paralyzed. He purred in pleasure as he achieved his goal. He made haste to grab it. Why was I letting him get this far? What am I doing? Was I slipping into some form of unconsciousness? "Why would you hide such things?" he said, giving out a sleazy compliment that I would never accept.

That was it. That was the last thing I would hear before he raped and killed me and yet all I could think was, what heaven would be like. Would I see my deceased father and mother there? Will I see my fallen comrades? Will I even be good enough to go to heaven? Would it be like I have imagined in my dreams?

I closed my eyes and let death come to me knowing it was approaching. I'd rather leave the madness of this world and be accepted into the serenity of my own consciousness. I savored my last breath like it was candy.

Then something snapped in my head. Something that was overpowering me. "NO!" I growled as I threw my fist into the man's head knocking him off of me. I rolled on my side and tried to drag myself as far away from the guy as I could on the only body part I could use, my arm.

But I was soon jumped on. The guy's weight on my back pinned me to the ground and knocked the breath out of me. I instinctively threw my arm back trying to knock the shit out of him, but he grabbed it and pinned it behind my back.

But nothing happened. The man fell off of me like he turned into a rag doll. I used my arm to roll myself over to look at what was going on, but I just stared at the blue sky thinking about how it was always so happy. How even on a day like today it was still smiling at me with its tender beauty.

I was also thinking if I should just lay here and die. If all this was worth it. There was no such thing as peace. Especially not here. So why fight a pointless fight that will never come to amends? I should have stayed at my post.

That's when a hand wrapped itself around my arm and pulled me up, ripping me from my delusion. I felt it as a sign. A sign, even though it was trivial, but a sign to keep going. This was not my time to give up. I have to be strong, if not for myself then for my nation. I was pulled to my feet and collapsed on a parallel yet curved surface. My arms now dangled over the top of it. I came to terms that it was a man, a graceful man that held me to his back, carrying me.

"Hold on tight." It was a man with a smooth like silk voice and soft, black hair that tickled my cheek. The smell of the man was promising. I have smelt it before. It was normally faint when he was around but now it was powerful. "Sasuke." My words were weak as I half spoke to myself. He gave me a little jump that pushed me up further on his back and that gave him a better hold on me. It was Sasuke, it had to be. I wanted to protest and jump off of him, for even now I felt heat rush to my cheeks. We were to close for comfort and I have never touched him like this before. My opened chest was pressed hard against his back and moved ever time he walked, it was embarrassing! But now was not the time to be that shy little girl while people where dying around you. I curled my arm tighter around his chest accepting the warm, comfort he emitted. I could feel his heart, pounding through his back. I wonder if he could feel mine.

He started off. "We have to get out of here, our units are falling back."

"Sakura are you alright." "No," I said with a weak voice. Now wasn't the time to be modest. I felt Sasuke's back muscles tighten as a horde of sand ninja fell from the tree like heavy leaves.

I have never seen such a grotesque sight before in my life. Blood was sprayed all over me. I could feel it hot on my face and arm. I had personally seen Sasuke impale his sword through this ninjas face and out of his head as he parried the ninjas attack. Then Sasuke yanked it, retrieving his sword. I could hear the tissue of the man's flesh ripping and the cracking of his bone. This human being was killed before my eyes. But there were many more.

These men were savages. They came at us from every corner. The back the side, it was like they popped out of nowhere. It was very difficult at first for us to fight. Let me rephrase that, for him to fight, because I could barely hold myself up on him. His movements were quick and fast, so it would jolt me and leave me hanging on with my mere fingers, plus the way he would move against me was very distracting. It was amazing how he moved. So clean cut and smooth. It was like watching a ballet except I was in it. It was amazing how his slender muscles worked together to strike and pull back.

Finally the last man of the wave fell and Sasuke stood there holding me on his back with one arm under me hitching my legs around him, an even more distracting gesture. I haven't seen him in years and this is how we reunite.

My conscience couldn't help but make me feel bad for these men. They might have had a family. They might have beaten their wives and their children could have stole from the neighbors and antagonized the sweet little old lady across the street. I almost forgot that these weren't civilized people. These were hate filled people that didn't deserve to breathe the same air as we did.

"Sakura we're not going to get out of here and back to the village in time, we have to camp out somewhere safe tonight." He was right. I know he's exhausted because I am.

Dark approached too soon.

We were getting further away from the commotion, the confusion, the bloodlust. Sasuke set me down in-between two roots of a tree that cuddled around me. My whole right side was numb still and my broken leg throbbed with an annoying pain.

I was in a slight daze. It didn't feel real, nothing did. That's when I realized that my shirt was ripped open. I clung to the threading trying to save what dignity I had left.

I saw Sasuke remove his vest and shirt that left him in wrap. He handed me the shirt, then backed away. He sat down beside me and ran his fingers through his matted hair. "Do you even want to explain." His tone was an understanding one, that's how I knew he was talking about the unusual change of wardrobe that fell upon me. I curled my toes in my sandals. For some reason I couldn't remember exactly what happened. When I was silent trying to recall something about what had happened he spoke.

"We have to get out of here." He said lowering his voice so that I may only hear.

"Where are we?" He clasped his hands together in a fist and rested his head on it, "we're on the outskirts of Konoha, those ninjas that attacked us, and they were part of one barrier that surrounded half of Konoha. I scoped out the area and I am positive that we would be much safer staying here than taking the chance of being ambushed again.

He grunted as he stood. "Where are you hurt?" I licked my dry lips, "I can't move the right side of my body and I have a broken shin." I didn't want to say it. It made me feel vulnerable in every way imaginable.

Without saying a word he sat in front of me. I secured my arm around his chest once again and he stood up taking me with him. He bounced me up again and held me tight to his back as I clung to his shirt that he had given me. And we were off to find a more secure place for the night.

Found it. There was a tree that looked like the dirt has eroded from the roots, leaving them exposed to the elements. Thick green vines hung from the tree like drapery. The thick tree roots were like a cave. The massiveness of the tree and the chlorophyll filled vines hid us marvelously. There was just enough space for me to sit on the soft mud like floor. Sasuke sat down next to me and examined my extended leg. He touched it before I could say anything. The pain was horrid. "What the hell why would you do that!?" I hissed. "It's not broken it has shattered, I could feel the pieces moving under the skin." He stated. I rested my head on the wall of our cramped little room and thought. Thought about things that had no relation to the situation I was in right now, trying to take my mind off the throbbing uncomfortable agony. Like when I get home what am I going to have to eat? I wonder if my strawberry plant can make it without water for a few days.

Then I started thinking, I'm hiding with the famous Sasuke Uchiha. The most adored and gifted ninja in the whole village. I have not talked to him since team 7 graduated from the academy. Naruto went to train with Jiriah and fulfill his destiny of becoming Hokage. While Sasuke and I were stuck behind the Konoha walls. Sasuke has done much to better the village with his father and Itachi beside him. They had made the Konoha police stronger than it has ever been. Everyone adored and envied the Uchiha family, for they were the most beautiful and robust family in the entire village. Yet it was like he turned to a ghost in my eyes. When we passed each other in the street he would never look my way, it was like I was another stranger. I always thought that our busy life style was the thing that got in the way of meeting up and reminiscing on the old days, but there is no excuse now. We are really going to have to work together if we want to survive. We are going to have communicate.

The last thing I saw before sleep took me was an image of Suna, the way it was when we were allies with it. When the leader of Suna was a kind red head with proud eyes and a commendable stature, when the people were friendly and not ugly, traitorous, assholes who are so barbaric that they believe that everything can be solved by fighting. They were trustworthy once, but no more.


End file.
